SOCIALIZATION

INTRODUCTION  :

Children in society differ from each other  in terms of their gender, family ,social environment , class, caste and racial backgrounds .They are exposed to different child rearing practices that are known to have an indelible impact on their personality and cognitive abilities .These differences among children influence and are themselves influenced by classroom processes in a manner which reinforces differences among them , facilitating  learning among students from a favourable background and at the same time ,inhibiting learning among those from a relatively disadvantaged background . Man is considered as a social being but , man is not born social. The human child comes in to world as a biological organism with animal needs. The child becomes a man or a person through a variety of experience . The process of socialization is conditioned by culture . Since every society has its own culture the ways of the process of socialization also differ from society to society . Further , the same culture and the same ways of socialization  may have diverse effect on the development of the personality of the members of the same society .Thus , a culture need not necessarily produce stereotype personalities .

MEANING OF SOCIALIZATION :

Little of man's behaviour is instinctive . Rather ,man's behaviour is 'learnt' behaviour .Socialization is a term which one often comes across in the writings on sociology of education. Socialization is a social process by which the individual learns to conform to the norms of the group . It is a process by which on individual is mode social ,socially  acceptable and emotionally matured enough to deal with other in a friendly manner .It is the process of interaction among members of the society through which the young learnt the values of the society and also its ways of doing and thinking that are considered to be right and proper .It is a process by which the young learnt  the values of the society also its ways of doing and thinking that are considered to be  proper .It is a process by which the individual comes to learnt his prescribed role in the society and also learnt to take the role. A person becomes the able members of the his society when he is able to take on the particular role in the society .Thus socialization helps the person to become and able member of the society.

DEFINITION :

• Bogardus : Socialization is the "process of working together ,of developing group responsibility ,or being guided by the welfare needs of others  ".

• W. F.  Ogburn : "socialization is the process by which the individual learns to conform to the norms of the group ".

• Peter Worsley explains socialization as the process of  "transmission of culture , the process where by men learn the rules and practices of social groups".

• Harry M. Johnson understands socialization as "learning that enables the learner to the perform social roles ".He further says that it is a "process by which individual acquire the already existing culture of groups they come into ".

• According to Arnold Green ," Socialization is the process by which the child acquires a cultural content along with self hood and personality".

PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION :

The process of learning on internalize the values and norms into its self or the mode of learning to live in society is called the process of socialization . To internalize is to imbibe so deeply  that it becomes a part of the individuals behaviour and personality . Therefor , socialization is basically the learning of socially desired values , norms and roles by the members of a particular group or society . It may be defined more comprehensively as a life long process of inculcation whereby an individual learns the principles ,values and symbols of  the social system in which he participates and the expression of those  values and norms in the  roles he enacts .

Socialization is a continuous process  :

Socialization is a process of inducting the individual into the social world .It consist in teaching culture which he must acquire and share .Socialization is social learning .This learning is not intermittent but continuous . The more we try to learn the more remains to be learnt .Perfection in social learning rarely achieved .The process of socialization is something that continuous through out life .We must not think that there is a stage in learning at which a man has learnt everything about his group and that thereafter ,he ceases to learnt.

Timing :

Timing is important in socialization. Physical maturity by itself cannot produce perfect human adults without socialization .Socialization and maturation may proceed together in the early years of the life cycle .Our attempts to teach the child will have varying effects the child to be quit before he is capable of sustained inhibition .

Socialization and Development of the self :

The heart of the process of socialization is the emergence and gradual development of the' self ' or 'ego' .It  is in terms of the self that personality takes shape and mind comes to function .The notion of self begins to arise as the child learns something of the world of sensitive about him.
Everyone who is alive , in any society , has a consciousness of self when a child is born it has no consciousness of itself or of others. He does not possess the those behaviour mechanisms which make an individual a part and member of any group .The child birth is not conscious of any of the self and other relationship .These relationship the child learns through the process of socialization.


After above discussion we can summarise the process of  socialization as follows..............

•   It is a life long process .

• It helps in the inculcation of principles ,values and symbols of a social systems.

• It enables a person to encact are in accordance with what he has learnt from the process.i

• The roles a person enacts are the expression of his social nature .

• The development of the social nature enables the person to participate in social life .

• The nature of what one communication in society is determined by the influence of one's interaction with the society .

• Most human behaiviour is learned ,not instinctive .The capacity of the child to learnt and to internalize is called the plasticity of human nature.     

  

TYPE OF SOCIALIZATION 

All type of socialization may be classified into two broad groups,viz.,primary socialization and secondary socialization .The division is based on the primary and secondary needs of  individuals. 

Ian Robertson in his book  "sociology" (1977), has mentioned four types of socialization.

According to Ian Robertson , "the socialisation that a person undergoes in the course of his lifetime may be one or more of four different types: Primary socialisation , Anticipatory socialisation , Developmental socialisation , Rr - socialisation ".

These four type of socialization discuss below.................

1. Primary socialization : primary socialization strats in infency and childhood . This is considered the most important stage of socialization process as the child learns the basic rules of conduct at this stage. It concentrates on the teaching of language and cogntitive skills ,the internalisation of cultural norms and values , establishment of emotional ties , and the appreciation of the roles and perspectives.
2. Anticipatory socialization : people may be socialised into groups of which they are already members or into groups to which they wish to become attached . They may also learn the culutre of a groups to which they do not belong .Such a process whereby men socialise themselves into culture of a group with the anticipation of joining that group , is referred to by socialization like  Merton as 'anticipatory socialization .
3. Developmental socialization : this kind of learning is based on the achievements of primary socialization.
4. Re - socialization :re- socialisation takes place mostley when a social role is radically changed .It may also heppen in periods of rapid social mobility.

SOURCE.............

• Sociology ( C.N. Shankar Rao, S.Chand)
• Sociology of education (EDU 101 ,GU)